A VISIT to a hospital can offer a great reality check. It puts your own problems into perspective and brings home the value of NHS staff to this country.

But sometimes we forget that an effective NHS needs more than people - it also needs cutting edge technology and that can be extremely expensive.

There has been a lot of debate recently about the future of the former North Riding Infirmary, on the edge of Middlesbrough town centre.

Naturally, there is a lot of emotional attachment to the building because of the tens of thousands of people who have received care there over the years. And, whilst the building is not listed, the portico is an attractive architectural feature and many feel it should be saved.

When the Infirmary closed, the local NHS Trust sold the building and land to Aldi who submitted plans to demolish it and build a supermarket. This led to a local campaign to "Save the Infirmary" and Aldi's proposals have been rejected twice by planners.

Some have sought to portray both the NHS Trust and Aldi as the bad guys, but I feel that is unfair.

I visited hospital recently. It was the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, which now deals with many patients who would have previously attended the Infirmary. I saw in operation a new computerised tomography scanner - better known as a CT scanner - which is a special kind of X-ray machine.

Such scanners cost around £1m and they are needed in modern hospitals like the James Cook in towns and cities across Britain.

Behind the plain facade of CT scanner is an advanced technology that can produce virtual images to allow doctors to inspect the inside of the body without having to operate or perform unpleasant examinations; the images can help pinpoint tumours and help plan life saving radiotherapy treatment.

Behind the beautiful facade of the North Riding Infirmary is a derelict and outdated building rapidly deteriorating on wasteland. So it is wrong to criticise the NHS for selling off outdated and unused buildings if the money is ploughed back into providing better services.

Similarly, Aldi is a commercial company providing employment and local facilities for many people, a company that has done everything by the book. But you can hardly blame people for wishing to preserve some tribute to the role the Infirmary and its staff played in local life.

The row has been rumbling on for three years now but I'm delighted to say that, despite the two sides appearing to be at loggerheads and legal battles looming, a solution may have been found.

It has become clear to me that the ties to the North Riding Infirmary are not particularly down to location, but the attractive frontage which has come to symbolise what the building represents. So I asked Aldi whether they would dismantle and rebuild the portico somewhere else, brick by brick, so it can stand as both a memorial to the past and a piece of public art. The reaction was very favourable and I am hopeful the matter can be resolved soon.

It serves as another valuable reminder that there are two sides to an argument and people should not become so entrenched in one position that they cannot sit down and try to work things out.